Obesity Medicine Physician, Educator, Researcher, Advocate, Author

Dr. Kushner is Medical Director of the Center for Lifestyle Medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Professor of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Past President of The Obesity Society, Founder and Past Chair (2011-2015) of the American Board of Obesity Medicine, author (or editor) of 10 books, 45 book chapters and over 200 scientific articles on obesity and nutrition, on the medical advisory board of Retrofit and on the board of directors of the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC).

Dr. Kushner is a passionate clinician, educator, researcher and advocate in helping to improve the lives of those affected by overweight and obesity. He is recipient of the Clinician-of-the Year Award (2016) and the Atkinson-Stern Award for Public Service (2011) given by The Obesity Society. As an international obesity expert, he lectures worldwide, teaching health care professionals about the latest trends in obesity care. With the help of a team of experts, Dr. Kushner founded the American Board of Obesity Medicine that certifies physicians in the care of patients with obesity. To date, there are approximately 1600 Diplomats.

After completing his residency in internal medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Dr. Kushner completed a post-graduate fellowship in clinical nutrition at the University of Chicago Hospitals, and received a master’s degree in clinical nutrition and nutritional biology at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Kushner is editor of multiple professional texts including Lifestyle Medicine – Manual for Clinical Practice (April, 2016), Treatment of the Obese Patient, 2nd Edition, Nutrition and Bariatric Surgery and Practical Manual of Clinical Obesity. He is also author of Counseling Overweight Adults: The Lifestyle Patterns Approach and Toolkit, Fitness Unleashed: A Dog and Owner's Guide to Losing Weight and Gaining Health Together and Dr. Kushner's Personality Type Diet.

Dr. Kushner has been on a mission to train future physicians in obesity care. In addition to his work with the American Board of Obesity Medicine, initiatives he’s currently working on include studying and publishing an article on the coverage of obesity related topics on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) as a means to improve coverage and incentivize medical students to learn more about obesity, developing obesity-related competencies that schools will eventually be able to use for students, residents, fellows and other trainees as part of the Obesity Medicine Education Collaboratives (OMEC), instituting a Lifestyle Medicine thread throughout the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine curriculum so that medical students learn how to counsel patients to prevent and treat lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity through diet, physical activity, sleep and stress management and developing OSCE (objective structured clinical examination) observable standards to be used with Northwestern Medicine residents engaged in obesity counseling.

Examples of Dr. Kushner’s media coverage as an obesity expert and author include Good Morning America, ABC World News, the Today Show Weekend, the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times, Newsday, The New York Daily News, The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fitness, Glamour, Health, In Touch, Men’s Health, Newsweek, O, the Oprah Magazine, People, Redbook, SHAPE, Time, US Magazine, US News and World Report, USA Today Web Chat and WebMD.com.